Dandouras identified the newly discovered wind in data collected by the European Space Agency Cluster mission which was launched in the year 2000.

Cluster is a constellation of four satellites flying in formation and studying the interaction between Earth's magnetosphere, and the Sun's solar wind.

The magnetosphere is generated by Earth's magnetic field, forming a bubble and helping shield the planet from solar wind radiation.

Dandouras found plasmaspheric winds are continuously flowing from the upper atmosphere into the magnetosphere.

In the process, they migrate through the plasmasphere, an equatorial doughnut-shaped reservoir of cold, dense, charged particles which encircles the Earth inside the magnetosphere.

Dandouras estimates the winds are pushing almost 90 tonnes of plasma daily at speeds of over 5000 kilometres per hour.

According to Dandouras, plasmaspheric wind material plays a crucial role in governing the dynamics of the Earth's radiation belts, which effect satellites and astronauts travelling through them.

He says similar winds should exist on other planets and bodies that rotate quickly, and have both an atmosphere and magnetic field.

Furthering knowledge

Discovery of the plasmaspheric wind helps us understand how the Earth's magnetic field interacts with the solar wind, says Dr David Neudegg from the Bureau of Meteorology's Ionospheric Prediction Service, which monitors space weather.

"[The discovery] shows how interconnected different layers of the atmosphere are in protecting Earth from solar wind," says Neudegg.

"It demonstrates how particles can travel from the ionosphere into the plasmasphere, and this wind they've just discovered and measured, takes it further out."

Neudegg, who was involved in the early phase of the Cluster program, says it's good to see another result coming from the mission.

"Cluster has made several serendipitous discoveries, this is another unexpected bonus."

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